


dropping the ball

by rangerhitomi



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Accidental Sharkbait, Gen, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 16:54:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3074774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerhitomi/pseuds/rangerhitomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>go fish, monopoly, and mistletoe make for a very irritating new year's party</p>
            </blockquote>





	dropping the ball

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seventhstar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seventhstar/gifts).



> a secret santa gift for penwalla, which turned into a new year's fic... because I'm terrible, I'm sorry. I hope you like it!!

It’s 6:00 and Ryoga is in his room listening to obnoxiously loud music, trying to drown out Rio pounding on his door, yelling at him to get ready because _the guests will be here soon_.

He doesn’t want to participate in this New Year’s nightmare party Rio’s planned but he’s going to have to because is it possible to say no to Rio? Yeah, that’s right.

He finally opens the door because Rio is somehow louder than JAM Project and she crosses her arms and lifts a carefully-shaped eyebrow at him. She’s wearing a floaty blue cocktail dress, makeup, and glittering blue heels, and Ryoga wonders how she’s standing upright in them because they would probably break his ankles. But she keeps staring, and he knows what she’s saying without her having to vocalize it. He looks down at his plaid pajama pants, then back at her. He scowls.

* * *

 

It’s 7:00 and people are showing up. There’s Alit and Gilag, Mizael, Durbe – why the hell did Rio invite Vector – and then Kotori and Yuma. The house smells like cinnamon and lemon and ten different kinds of sushi and something unpleasant – _is that onion_ _–_ but the guests seem pretty content and Vector pulls a bottle of champagne from somewhere, offering it to Yuma, and Ryoga’s about to punch Vector in the face but Rio confiscates it and pours it down the drain while Vector whines.

Alit has some kind of homemade protein shake that smells like grass and looks like something a cat spit up. He encourages Yuma to participate in a shake chugging contest and Yuma consumes a quarter of a glass of it before frowning at it and complaining about a weird taste, so Ryoga takes it out of Yuma’s hand, sips it, and spends the next twenty minutes brewing coffee for Yuma while yelling about how everyone’s an irresponsible asshole, and _why did you think it was a good idea to put liquor in this shake and give it to a teenager_ – and he wants to kick everyone out but Rio saves the day by offering to host a card game tournament.

_Duel Monsters,_ Ryoga thinks, _that’s good,_ because it’ll pass the time until midnight in a productive way, and it’ll also be a good way to blow off some of his pent up frustration.

* * *

 

It’s 8:00 and Ryoga is eyeing the front door, waiting for an opportunity to escape from this hell, but none presents itself to him because he’ll have to somehow vault over Alit, Gilag, and Kotori and he’s not sure he’ll be able to pull that off.

They weren’t playing Duel Monsters.

“Got a three?” Yuma pipes up, and he’s jittery as a squirrel because of the coffee.

“Go fish,” Ryoga says through gritted teeth, and Vector howls with laughter.

* * *

 

It’s 8:30 and they’ve abandoned Go Fish because Mizael was complaining about how it was an infantile game and now they’re playing Monopoly. After a brief argument over who got to be the banker – Rio cheats, so Durbe is dumped with the responsibility – they’re on teams of two: Rio and Kotori, Alit and Gilag, Ryoga and Yuma, and since Durbe didn’t think he could participate in the game _and_ be an impartial banker, Mizael and Vector ended up stuck together.

Mizael looks so betrayed, and he keeps shooting nasty looks at Durbe, who smiles apologetically, and the teammates get into a shouting match over whether they should buy  Baltic Avenue.

“It’s only like six dollars of rent if anyone lands on it!” Vector argues, and Mizael goes into a tirade about _getting the advantage by conquering the board_ and Ryoga begins to think that they should be playing Risk instead.

(Vector would be good at it. He’s already conquered half the planet before.)

They end up not buying it because Vector tosses the dice at Alit and his and Mizael’s turn ends. Mizael berates Vector under his breath for the next ten minutes.

* * *

 

It’s 10:00 and Durbe has to get up to use the bathroom, so there’s a brief span of time where the banker is missing and Vector seizes this opportunity to sneak a hotel onto Park Place (coincidentally the only property he and Mizael have managed to purchase, and which is so laden with hotels that it’s pretty much put them near bankruptcy since no one ever lands on Park Place… so it more or less defeats the whole purpose of buying hotels for it in the first place).

“Wait, I thought they had eight of them?” Kotori wonders, doing a quick count, and Rio takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and asks if anyone wants a drink. She doesn’t wait for a response.

“I’m going to get some food,” Mizael says under his breath, and he leaves the room as quickly as he can without appearing desperate.

Yuma’s leg is jittery and he rolls and lands on Free Parking, which Ryoga had always assumed was the opportunity to take the taxes collected in the middle. Gilag insists that the rulebook says there’s no effect from the space, and an argument breaks out.

* * *

 

It’s 10:15 and Rio is drinking sparkling grape juice from the bottle while Kotori tries to convince her not to (“that much sugar can’t be good for you,”), Mizael is still getting food and Durbe is still using the toilet, and the game has practically devolved into a shouting match. Then there’s a knock at the door.

Alit gets it because he’s closest, and it’s… Kaito, dragged along by Haruto, who looks very tired but also very excited to be there (“my brother is letting me stay up until midnight!” he announces).

“Good timing!” Gilag says. “Wanna play Monop—“

“No,” Kaito says with one look at the fiasco in the living room, and he immediately makes for the kitchen.

Fifteen seconds later he walks back into the living room and sits on the edge of a chair.

Mizael walks out next, looking disgruntled, followed by Durbe, whose face is bright red, his shirt a little unruffled, and one too many buttons on his shirt unbuttoned.

There’s an uncomfortable silence and Ryoga can’t look at either of them.

“Oh, there you are, Durbe,” Yuma says, “what’s the rule for Free Parking?”

* * *

 

It’s 11:00 and Monopoly is shoved back in its box that somehow ends up in the trash, and they’re loitering around the kitchen while Rio tries to find some music that they can all agree on, except it’s kind of futile because nobody has even a remotely similar taste in music. Durbe and Mizael are standing on opposite sides of the room, not looking at each other, and Kaito keeps inching toward the door before Haruto drags him back.

The evening is going from annoying to downright uncomfortable and Ryoga keeps glancing at his watch but it’s never going to be the new year, is it, because time never goes anywhere when everyone looks like they would like to jump up and down a thinly frozen lake.

“This party sucks,” Vector pipes up, and it’s probably the only time in Ryoga’s memory (or any of his memories, really) where he hasn’t disagreed with Vector. “Where’s the booze.”

“Why can’t we listen to Sanagi-chan?” Gilag complains.

“Why is there a plant hanging from the ceiling?” Yuma wonders, and the party (led by Durbe) immediately migrates back into the living room.

* * *

 

It’s 11:55, and Ryoga is getting antsy. Haruto’s flat-out asleep on the couch now and Kaito’s scowling like he always is, and Yuma’s caffeine high has reversed into a caffeine low and he looks like he’s probably going to zone out at any second.

_Five minutes… five minutes and then I can kick everyone out and go to bed._

Kotori and Rio are whispering to each other, and they keep glancing at Ryoga, and he’s suspicious, but he gets somewhat distracted when Vector swings an arm over his shoulder and holds out a glass of some bubbly drink.

“Is this champagne,” he asks in a defeated voice.

“Yeah.”

“Where did you get it.”

“I can’t reveal my sources,” Vector replies in an unconvincing stage whisper.

“Did you poison it.”

“Please, Naschy-poo, I’m a changed Barian.” And Vector pushes the glass into Ryoga’s hand, pinches his cheek, and bounds off to (presumably) torture Kaito next.

Ryoga drinks it. It tastes like grapes that have been rotted for six months. It probably is.

* * *

 

It’s 11:59 and Ryoga gets dragged into the kitchen by his sister, right underneath the mistletoe, and she turns her face so her cheek is facing him. Yuma’s standing nearby, with Kotori, and Ryoga rolls his eyes.

“You’re my _sister_.”

“For God’s sake, Ryoga, just kiss my cheek and stop being a weenie.”

He huffs, squeezes his eyes shut, and leans forward.

The lights go out and suddenly Ryoga’s pretty sure he’s not kissing his sister’s cheek. He’s pretty sure he’s kissing someone’s lips, and it kind of tastes like coffee. Then the lights go back on and he opens his eyes and realizes _why_.

* * *

 

It’s 12:01, and Ryoga is futilely trying to pry the phone from Rio’s hand as she shows Vector and Kaito the picture she snapped of Yuma and Ryoga kissing, and it’s only been the new year for one minute but it’s already probably the worst year of Ryoga’s life.


End file.
